Best of the East 2018: Steak

The perfect steak is not an elusive dish at Hook & Hoof, a Willoughby-based meat-centric eatery that prides itself on its scratch-made new American menu. So we asked Hunter Toth, chef partner in the restaurant, to give us home cooks some tips on how to replicate that steak knife-worthy experience at home.

“If I was going to do a marbled ribeye, I would not just throw that on the grill because all the fat content is going to cause the grill to shoot flames up and scorch the beef,” he says. The best way to do a ribeye is in a hot cast iron skillet to sear in the flavor for a few minutes on each side and finish in a 500-degree oven.

If you like your steak rare but with a nice crusty outside, Toth suggests cooking it from a cold temperature right out of the fridge. If you like your steak to be medium or above, let it come to room temp because the cook time will be diminished, and you’ll still get your medium temperature.

Just let it cook. “We have an ongoing inside joke in our kitchen,” Toth says. “Don’t move it around, let it do its thing. You’re going to know when to turn it over.” 4125 Erie St., Willoughby, 440-571-5312, hookandhoofdtw.com